Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No.4, March 1997 Women, Development and Change in Negeri Sembilan: A Micro-Level Perspective AZIZAH KASSIM* I Introduction This paper is an attempt to study local level social changes among a group of matrilineal people in Negeri Sembilan. The focus of attention is on the changing roles of women at the household and community levels in the mukim (sub-district) of Seri Menanti. Interest on women studies in Malaysia has shown a marked increase in the last few years as evidenced by the growing number of literature on the subject. However, most of the available works are still focussed on women and industrial development, especially on women in the manufac­ turing industries. Central to most of the discussions are women's migratory pattern and the impact of such migration, their problems in adapting to the new work pattern and living environment, their exploitation at the work place, and the consequences of wage labour on their social relations. As most of the industries are based in the urban areas, most of these works are urban based. Studies on women in the rural areas remain neglected. Of the few available works on the rural women are those by Husna Sulaiman [1989], Ng [1989b], Rokiah Talib [1986], Stivens [no date], Mazidah et ai. [1983] and Strange [1980], apart from my own works [Azizah Kassim 1986a; 1988]. There is a need to increase the literature on rural women so as to provide a more balanced and comprehensive picture of women in Malaysia. This paper hopes to fulfill such an objective. The fieldwork on which this paper is based, is a sequel to my earlier one carried out in 1969 in Seri Menanti, in the Kuala Pilah district [Azizah Kassim 1970]. In the previous study I conclude that women in the matrilineal society has a somewhat advantageous position vis-a-vis their menfolk due, among other things, to their control of the means of production, i.e. land for agriculture. Since 1969, a number of changes have taken place in Seri Menanti. The mukim has received various development projects of socio-economic significance. Most villagers now have access to public amenities and social services. Many, especially the young, have left the village for the urban areas or for FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) land settlement schemes, leaving behind a predominantly elderly population and creating labour shortages in the rural areas. Consequently agricultural activities have declined as evidenced by the vast stretches of unworked or under-utilised land (tanah terbiar) especially rice-fields and rubber smallholdings. As shall be explained in section III, the economic base of the matrilineal society in Negeri * Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 696 AzIZAH KASSIM: Women, Development and Change in Negeri Sembilan Sembilan or the Adat Perpatih society as it is generally referred to, has changed in the last 20 years or so. Adherents of Adat Perpatih were predominantly dependent on agriculture but now, in the majority of cases, household income is derived largely from non-agricultural sources. In this paper the writer attempts to look at the social implications of such an economic change and the introduction of basic amenities and social services on women in the matrilineal society, particularly on their roles within the family /household and the community. It is my assumption that the provision of basic amenities and social services as well as agricul­ tural decline at the village level encourage the isolation of the nuclear family and erode the importance of the lineage group as the basis for extra household co-operations. These changes, in turn, negatively affect the relative importance of women vis-a-vis men in the Adat Perpatih society. The fieldwork for this paper was carried out in stages over a span of over two years, between September 1986 and February 1987, in January and February 1988, and in October 1988. The focus of attention is on 200 female respondents, each from a separate household, from ten traditional villages in Seri Menanti. The respondents who were chosen at random, are either household heads or the wives of household heads. The number of households interviewed accounts for about one third of all households in the ten villages. Data gathered from the respondents were complemented by information solicited from key informants which include elderly people, politicians both at the village and supra-village levels, and officials of government departments involved in the implementa­ tion of socio-economic projects in the mukim. My earlier work forms the main basis for comparison with the present findings. As the earlier work has a somewhat limited scope, there are instances where it lacks data for comparison. In such circumstances, I resort to oral history, soliciting information on the earlier period from village elders, particularly women. II Seri Menanti : An Outline of Its People and Development Seri Menanti is one of the ten mukim (sub-districts) in the district of Kuala Pilah (see maps 1 and 2). It lies in the valley of Sungai Muar (Muar River) in the central region of Negeri Sembilan. The mukim is a relatively old settlement, believed to have been opened in the seventeenth century by Minangkabau immigrants from Sumatra. I) The early settlers left a legacy, the matrilineal kinship system, known locally as the Adat Perpatih, which is still practised today in Seri Menanti and other mukim in Kuala Pilah as well as in five other districts in the state, viz.. Rembau, Jempol, Tampin, Kuala Pilah and }elebu. It is the Adat Perpatih (or Adat for short) which sets the Malays in these districts apart from other Malays in Peninsular Malaysia. In 1986 the mukim had a population of 7,741 (which was distributed over 1,388 households) and in 1989 the population size is assumed to be the same. Almost all the population (99.7%) are 1) Writing on the history of Negeri Sembilan between 1640 and 1760, Wilkinson [1971: 291] states that"... The later settlers had to go further afield, with the result that they created new states - Inas, Johol, Gemencheh, Terachi, Gunung Pasir, Jempol and Diu Muar .. ," Gunung Pasir and Diu Muar are in the Mukim of Seri Menanti. 697 ',./'- \ N -_. State boundary \.....- \ ._.-- Dlstnct boundary I ~. o 10 20 30km ~:::iI' = Roads \ -- ....-==:::l'... _=:::I' -- Railway JELEBU PAHANG ( , __ I • M:::,J I Map 1 Districts in Negeri Sembilan , ,,'/'j / N , ,,/\../ :- . ( District boundary ~ Mukim boundary ( -----,..- Roads LANGI<AP " Kg. St. Melinlange TERACHI Map 2 Seri Menanti and the Neighbouring Mukims Malays, while the rest (0.3%) comprise Chinese and Indians. The non-Malays who are confined to the two small trading centres, Pekan Tanjung Ipoh and Pekan Seri Menanti, are engaged in small businesses. The Malays, on the other hand, live in the countryside and are engaged in a number of economic activities induding agriculture and wage labour (see section III). All the Malays, except for a few from other states and from other districts in Negeri Sembilan, 698 AzIZAH KASSIM: Women, Development and Change in Negeri Sembilan besides the five mentioned above, are adherents of the adat. The adat used to regulate all aspects of village life, but its relevance has increasingly declined as the society becomes more receptive to outside influences. The adat has undergone several changes over the years, yet its basic priciples remain constant. These include the tracing of descent through the female line which forms the basis for subdivision of the society into matriclans and lineages; exogamic marriage patterns; matrilocal residence after marriage; and clan "ownership" of customary land, tanah pesaka adat, which are held by women and transmitted through them. Tanah pesaka adat comprises largely land for homesteads and rice fields, and some rubber holdings. This category of land, together with holdings under Malay Reservation, form the main bulk of land holdings among the matrilineal Malays in this mukim and elsewhere in Negeri Sembilan. The mukim which has the penghulu as its administrative head, covers an area of approximately 7,769.971 hectares. It comprises about 60 traditional villages, some of which are small, with about 20 to 30 households. For administrative purposes, the district office groups together these small adjoining villages and considers them as one administrative unit or one administrative village, referring to them by the name of the largest village in the cluster. This administrative village is governed by the ]awatankuasa Keselamatan dan Kemajuan Kampung OKKK, lit: Village Committee for Security and Development). There are ten ]KKK in the mukim. The chairman of the ]KKK, the deputy chairman and the secretary, are usually officials of the local branch of the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) , the dominant partner in the ruling coalition known as Barisan Nasional (BN), while the rest of the committe members are strong UMNO supporters and representatives of some government departments in the district. The chairman of the ]KKK is usually the head of the local party branch; at the same time he is also the village chief, Ketua Kampung. The ]KKK is the main link between the village and the various government departments in the district. It is through the ]KKK that the government departments disseminate new ideas, relay information to the villagers and implement development projects. Similarly, the ]KKK is the main medium through which the villagers present their grouses to the government and political leaders of the party in power such as Members of Parliament and Members of the State Legistlative Assembly, and through which they apply for development projects, projek pembangunan, which can range from a small cash aid for repair of a mosque to a large financial allocation for rural road construction.